Obscurity
by ImmersedinTwilight
Summary: Bella's entire life has been among the stars aboard the E.D.S. ship. How can Bella prove herself to an elusive Edward and reprimanding Renée? Follow her galactic adventure to discover what her future entails.
1. Chapter 1

Bella awakes with a start. She hazily peers around, trying to orient herself. Feeling the smooth curve of the wall to her side, and the soft cotton sheets confirms she's in the

safety of her room. Springing out of bed she grabs hold of her custom handrail to travel the short distance to her wardrobe. Red, her morning android assistant, boots up from

the motion of Bella's approach.

"ALLOW ME TO ASSIST YOU", Red offers in a flat robotic voice. Bella had grown familiar with this morning routine of Red gently prying open her lids to apply a smart film atop

her cornea, but still had not adjusted to the intense stinging of her sensitive, cloudy eyes. Bella's focus improved and she recognized Red's questioning gaze. Red looked much

like the other androids with pale, bleached white 'skin', inhumanly beautiful and flawless. The androids easily camouflaged against the alabaster interior of the ship. The droids

were given away only by their thick decorative black designs framing their 'eyes' and adhesive black uniforms with a long narrow slit down the center reaching their navel.

Glancing at her bracelet device, Bella registers she has 5.32 minutes before her alarm system is triggered. Now with her vision intact, she traipses to the entry keypad, and

enters the command for the bed to fold up into the wall. Wandering down the dimly lit hall, she reaches the showers. She waits for the entry light outside to glow blue,

indicating a stall is available for use. She walks into the available stall and disrobes, meticulously folds her jumpsuit, and places it into the clothing bin. She steps onto the

sensor and opens her mouth for the fluoride wash treatment and waits for the spray of jets to take effect. Once cleaned to Earth Developer Syndicate (E.D.S.) standards, Bella

is beet red from the steamy shower. She slicks back her jet-black locks and dresses, allowing her now-clean jumpsuit to absorb the water still coating her skin. Exiting the stall

she finds a boy about her age gawking at her.

Scanning him she detects he is in fact 16 and named Edward, she tries to ignore the pile-up of other information swimming across her vision. "Greetings Edward." Bella gives

him a timid smile, trying to illicit a positive reaction.

Edward gives her a horrified expression and frantically looks around to ensure no one has witnessed their brief encounter. Not wanting to be associated with 'the homeschooled

cyborg girl', he runs past her, keeping as much distance from her as possible while passing. Bella rolls her eyes. _At least I tried to be friendly._ _Not my fault people cannot see_

 _beyond small differences._ Her bracelet begins to vibrate, signaling the scheduled wake-up time. She leaves the showers and veers left. Striding to the serving station, Bella

scoops her dehydrated beverage and fills her cup to the brim with purified water. She watches it fizz and bubble into a milky substance. Still frustrated by Edward, Bella wishes

to avoid further encounters with fellow Earth Developer colleagues, so she snags an apple from the container of bio-polymer gel and darts through the revolving doors, towards

the E.D.S. headquarters.


	2. Chapter 2

A small group of people enter the lobby, not detecting Bella in the adjacent office. They all wear shiny brown uniforms and stern expressions, standard for high-ranking officials.

Bella's face lights up upon spotting the woman with bright, plaited hair, bronzed skin, perfect posture, and composed facial features.

Bella's attention remains focused on this woman, the one leading the discussion, her mother. "As you all know, E.D.S. developed enough technology forty years ago to allow a

small collective called the External Sector to use one of our shuttles to depart for Earth; the select few who were chosen, have been collecting data and transmitting it to us

every three months," Renée recites to the other officials. "They have also become a resource for us in terms of food and supplies and, given our growing population on this ship,

we have become dependent on this union."

At this point Bella's ear is pressed to the door of the small office, and can hear the gathered officials shuffled feet and dimming voices, meaning they are leaving the lobby.

Knowing little about the External Sector, Bella's curiosity is piqued. She surreptitiously slides the door open and peeks out into the lobby, seeing the group headed to the left of

the main desk. Given Bella's experience shadowing Renée she surmises they are likely headed to the main conference room. Looking around, Bella sneaks out of the office and

casually stands behind a pillar while the officials reach the conference room. The desk attendant droid greets her with a nod, and resumes programming. Bella lets out a small

breath and peeks around the chrome pillar. With the officials not in sight, she casually struts towards the left hallway. When the conference room comes into view, Bella is

unable to see the E.D.S. officials. Searching the connected room with her contact lens scanner she lets out a satisfying, whispered "Yes!" Placing her hand against the door's pad

Bella is again thankful she is registered in the system from having shadowed her mother's management role at the headquarters. The entry doors silently glide open and Bella

crouches toward the connected room. She strains to hear the muted conversation.

Bella again recognizes the smooth, authoritative voice of her mother. "...'s a necessity that our ship get access to the newest food and supply cargo. We have started arranging

for transport, but currently have no volunteers for traveling to Earth."

"Why not send an android?" Bella uses her contacts to identify the voice but can only make out faint shapes, so no identification is made.

"I have already asked our staff to run diagnostics and unfortunately all androids are needed on the ship for full functioning" Renée concludes.

 _I would volunteer if I met the age requirement_ , Bella thinks. _If I volunteered I bet Edward wouldn't look at me like I'm some nuisance to E.D.S. If I were only two years older_

 _this could have been my chance to prove myself to him and to all of them. Surely even mother would be proud and hopefully stop sheltering me so much. She treats me like I_

 _am still a near-death newborn. Well I'm not, I'm nearly an adult. I would volunteer. I would... and I'd make them all proud. They'd see._

Becoming preoccupied with her thoughts Bella hadn't realized the conversation had come to a close. Startled by the sounds of movement Bella knows she doesn't have time to

reach the doors she entered through, and she obviously cannot leave through the room they are in presently, which leaves her with scrambling to hide. Diving for the corner she

moves a desk to block her body and tries to slow her breathing. She watches through the desk as the collection of officials exit back towards the lobby and starts to relax as

none seem to notice the girl hiding in the corner. Not seeing anyone in the room she moves out from behind the desk and leaves through the main exit. A moment too late Bella

registers her mother waiting for her in the hallway, arms crossed, expression stern. _Blast._

Renée lets out a weary sigh. "You need to stop doing this Bella. If someone besides me were to find you, you would be forced to clean the ship's riprap under droid supervision.

I am telling you this because I want what is best for you Bella. And spending a month in the riprap sector is not that... You were not invited to this assembly, nor to the meeting

last month. What did you overhear?"

Bella considers how much she should tell her mother. "I am sorry to have worried you. I will be more careful…." not getting caught, Bella thinks. "As for what I overheard, I

learned you are short Earth travelers. And… I want to volunteer"

Renée narrows her eyes. "Bella you know very well that the minimum volunteering age is 18."

"And you have the authority to lift that limit" Bella fires back.

"NO!" Renée thunders and bristles. "You are not to go. I will not have it. My decision is final." Renée turns from Bella and storms down the hallway.


End file.
